Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – An estimated 18 million children will take part in discussions and demonstrations of hand-washing with soap across the country as part of the Global Hand-washing Day observation on Saturday.

In 2008 16 million children from 73,000 primary and secondary schools in Bangladesh washed their hands with soap and pledged to promote hand-washing with soap after defecation and before eating.

Over 80 countries will celebrate the second annual Global Hand-washing Day this year. In Bangladesh, a total of 80000 primary and secondary schools along with 8000 madrasas (religious schools) will participate in this event.

 Each year, diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections kill more than 3.5 million children under the age of five in the world. About 85 per cent of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

According to a global report on diarrhoea released on Saturday by UNICEF and WHO, Bangladesh is among the 10 countries in the world that report the largest number of child deaths due to diarrhoea. In Bangladesh, 50,800 children under five years of age die of diarrhoea every year.

Research shows that washing hands with soap is a highly cost-effective health practice that can reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal disease by over 40 per cent and respiratory infections by nearly 25 per cent.  Furthermore, washing hands with soap is also a critical action to prevent the spread of swine influenza (H1N1).

Yet, despite its life-saving potential, hand-washing with soap is seldom practiced and not always easy to promote.
                                                                
Investments in health, child survival, education, water supply, and sanitation are all jeopardized if there is a lack of emphasis on hand-washing with soap, a press statement said.

Research in several developing countries illustrates that lack of soap is usually not the barrier – with the vast majority of even poor households having soap at home – rather, the problem is that soap is rarely used for hand-washing.

The Global Hand-washing Day Campaign was initiated in 2008 by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Hand-washing with Soap where Unilever has been one of the key actors.   
 
 The partnership is endorsed by a wide array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private companies and individuals around the globe. In Bangladesh DPHE, UNICEF, WHO, WaterAid, Plan Bangladesh, Oxfam, BRAC, CARE, Save the Children, NGO Forum and other NGOs put their efforts together observe the day.

BBN/SSR/AD-15Oct11-4:42 pm (BST)